WHY is the grammar, spelling, and composition so poor on this forum?

Question

I capitalized WHY because that's the question - why?

And all you college grads out there, please feel free to enlighten us, ok?

Answer 1

You have a valid point, but it may be a generational thing. For us older folk, we understood that our writing would be judged not just on content, but on our ability to write correctly and even elegantly. Correct spelling and grammar were basic to our concept of writing, because poor grammar and spelling were the signs of a certain laziness of thought and manner.

But times have changed, and the young people have been communicating with devices that promote poor English skills. I also wonder about the teaching they receive in English classes nowadays; it wasn't that good in my day and I don't think it has improved.

I used to be very proud of my ability to create a coherent, logical and elegant thesis essay in my college years. Do they even know what one is now? If not, the loss is tremendous, because it required a level of organized thought, ability to marshal facts to support the thesis, and to logically use those facts to prove ones thesis.

Is it a lost art? I fear it may be. And we are the lesser for it.

Answer 2

That is the common trend in the American Education system. I work for a Community College as a secretary. The instructors are very frustrated because the students are not ready for college level classes. They constantly send students to the writing and math labs to get them "caught up". But it seems so much effort that is not enough.

I see the American Business failing more and more in competition on the world market. I shudder to think of how our standard of living will be in the US 50 years from now, should this trend continue.

These seem to be contributing factors:
1. Prep for all of these miscellaneous tests required by the state to pass. The lower level teachers are forced to spend entire years of teaching the kids how to take and pass these tests.

2. Teachers are stripped of their authority and students are made to pass when they are not ready.

3. Parents interfer and expect the teachers & administrators to raise their kids for them without their (the parents) help or involvement.

4. Treating all kids as 100% clones so that everyone is the exact same in intelligence, maturity, educational background, goals, opportunities, etc. Everyone succeeds at different levels, at different speeds.

5. Parents just are so into their own lives and worries that they seem clueless when their child doesn't do well and blames others for the failings.

6. Students don't show up for classes, fail tests, disrupt classes, don't participate and the instructor's hands are tied & they are told to go ahead and pass the student because the student or the student's parents raised a rukus.

7. Students cheat at tests, are literally caught with the answers written on their forearms by the instructor, and the administrators look the other way and the kid somehow "passed" the test.

What message are we giving the students?

What's the future of America?

So, I see the poor grammer, spelling and composition in black and white on Yahoo Answers and other forums. I see blatant errors on the World Wide Web at various websites. I can't believe that these companies allow non-proofed websites to be exposed to millions of persons. It shows slopiness, impatience, no pride in one's work and just plain apathy.

Certainly, we can be in a hurry. I merely type faster. I solved that problem, plus I use a spell checker, which helps, but is not perfect.

It's very discouraging. I suppose no one reads the Classics for pleasure and for a means to learn proper dictation along with your three items listed above. Everything is abbreviated bacause we just don't have time to utter that extra syllable.

Good Grief, Charlie Brown! :\

Answer 3

The answer is not so difficult. In a lot of cases these deficiencies are the result of a lack of reading real books. In many others it is a failure to execute the spell and grammar check. But perhaps the most prevailing factor is it's less expensive to buy a computer and go online than it is to get a quality education!

Answer 4

even as a number of the people posting probable do have a dim draw close of the English language, more beneficial than in all probability, you're ill of internet type. you'll see a staggering type of words and words shortened right down to at least one or 2 letters. usually, it truly is accessible, and some people imagine it truly is lovable. a number of them are nevertheless in center college, yet maximum critically is you favor to do not forget that you're dealing with the collective 1000's right here. not one and all is as finicky about their punctuation, grammar, spelling, and composition.

Answer 5

Well,Walter, the US school system surely isn't what it used to be, at least in terms of what kids know when they finish a grade. Too many people just don't really know how to spell, or how to phrase a question or an answer in a logical and understandable way. Also, many people are simply too lazy to use spell check. But I do agree with you, the clarity of writing is rather marginal throughout yahoo answers.

Answer 6

Yes, why ARE grammar, spelling, and composition so poor on yahoo answers and in general?

I think that this problem has a lot to do with schools and parents not teaching thier children to speak properly.

Answer 7

The internet is a casual place to post messages, spelling and correct grammar are not that important. Also people are lazy. It also wouldn't surprise me as this is the politics section that we have a fair few politicians, in which case the poor spelling is explained.

Answer 8

there are few things to consider, first, we want to be time efficient, second, this is a casual talk forum we are not writing a job-application, third, as long as the message is conveyed its OK to me, fourth, mostly Americans are answering the question and there grammar is never be good, fifth, there is no grammar check available like in MS Word, sixth, its a general practice of this generation to save letters while communicating through email, IM, Blogs etc. seventh, it facilitate us to press lesser number of keys..Long Live Keyboard :)

Hope this answer your question.

PS: I tried to type every letter and avoid contraction also ensure use of proper grammar and spellings, I performed a Spell Check!

Answer 9

Well Wally, I don't know. The bad combination is that the poster is in a rush plus having bad grammer and related english skills. Such an infliction! It takes zero effort to click on "Check Spelling" to get it right.

Answer 10

1. Spelling tests ended years ago.
2. Nobody teaches how to diagram sentences any more.
3. Johnny can't read, so don't expect Johnny to write proper essays.
4. People are lazy.
5. Broken keyboards.

I think that about covers it.